British football player David Beckham shows his tattoo to fans during his visit to Peking University.

As soccer legend David Beckham wraps up his tour of China, hoping to draw more attention to the Chinese Super League, it got Private Equity Beat thinking about the parallels between the ‘great game’ and the investment world.

After all PE is no stranger to soccer: Beckham’s latest team, France’s Paris Saint-Germain FC, is owned by sovereign wealth fund and private equity investor Qatar Investment Authority. The Qatari investor is currently seeking backers, and is said to be in talks with buyout firm CVC Capital Capital Partners, for a possible 8 billion U.K. pound takeover of British retailer Marks and Spencer Group PLC.

Other PE investors in the soccer world include Junction Investors President Thomas Dibenedetto, who owns Italy’s A.S. Roma and has a stake in Fenway Sports Group, owner of English premier league team Liverpool FC.

“Both football and PE have moved from niche to global in the last 20 years,” said Saki Georgiadis, head of Asia for limited partner Hermes GPE. “Teamwork–rather than reliance to talent alone is a lot more essential to both than it was 20 years ago…good deal-doers need to have operating and people skills not just a solid financial toolkit.”

In particular, local expertise is now essential for many PE players, especially global firms seeking inroads into emerging markets such as Asia. Canadian pension funds like Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan and CPP Investment Board are some of the investors that have recently established offices in Hong Kong to be closer to the deals.

In fact, soccer teams could learn a few tricks from those in PE when it comes to business, agree private equity experts/soccer enthusiasts.

“Player valuations have moved to excessive levels, leverage at the club level is often unsustainable and clubs are too reliant on unpredictable sources of earnings such as winning titles,” said Mr. Georgiadis. Although PE has allowed high leverage and valuations at times, the focus on more predictable earnings sources has meant that it has “consistently delivered excess returns to other asset classes on a net basis,” he added.

One aspect of soccer has seen clubs tackling huge transfer fees such as that for Cristiano Ronaldo, who commanded an almost 100 million euro transfer to Spain’s Real Madrid from Manchester United in 2009. Some may argue that his talent and ability to score goals is worth the money, and the club is ultimately investing in improving its own brand with a star player, not unlike when a PE firm focuses on brand management for a portfolio company.

“While natural ability matters in PE and football, apprenticeship and coaching are crucially important in both. The performance gap between top and bottom quartile is also drastic in both,” said Bruno Roy, managing partner at McKinsey & Co.’s Beijing office, and Chelsea FC supporter, which is currently third in England’s Premier League.